International visitor arrivals to Australia rose by 11.4 per cent in the year to January 2017, with Asian nations comprising seven of our top 10 source markets, and delivering almost 50 per cent of total arrivals over the past 12 months.

Overseas Arrival Data (OAD) released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed New Zealand was still our largest single market, delivering 1.35 million visitors, but achieving the lowest growth in the top 10, at just 2.1 per cent.

China was our second-biggest market with 1.25 million visitors, up 17.3 per cent, putting it well on track to become our largest source of overseas visitors by year’s end.

Our more traditional market of the USA was the third largest, delivering 718,900 visitors, up 16.3 per cent, narrowly edging out fourth-placed UK, with 718,500, up 3.8 per cent, while the strongest growth was achieved by South Korea (288,600, up 23.2 per cent), followed by Japan (418,100, up 22.6 per cent).

Margy Osmond Chief Executive Officer of Tourism & Transport Forum, said: “These figures tell a strong story. China will soon be our biggest single market, but our future will be driven by the whole of Asia. The top 10 destinations delivered 6.1 million visitors in the year to January, or 73 per cent of total arrivals, and of these, seven Asian markets, all with double digit growth, delivered 40 per cent of the total. Beyond the top 10, it is also important to keep watching emerging giants such as Indonesia and Vietnam, which will surge in coming years.”